Starting a business or creative project is scary for many reasons, but one that is often overlooked is the anxiety related to whether this is really “the one.” To some, this isn’t a valid consideration while to others this is the only consideration. Some argue that what you work on, along with who you work with are the two most pivotal decisions you’ll make and so we’ve asked folks to tell us about how they came up with their ideas and how they knew this idea was the one.

Taylor Dadds

I came up with One Balanced Life when I was working in a corporate job that left me feeling unfulfilled. I wanted to fuel my passions for heathy living and wellness and that’s where One Balanced Life came in the picture! For a long time, I lived my life in a constant cycle of diets and restrictions and couldn’t find a balance when it came to living a healthy lifestyle. I wanted to share my passion for a balanced lifestyle that is full of foods that make you feel good but also taste good. I also wanted to inspire those who may be intimidated to get in the kitchen! I was excited to start One Balanced Life as a new place to build community, but I had no idea it would get to where it is today. Read more>>

TC Nash

I rebranded my business in 2020 with the intention of honoring my grandfather whose story inspired me after he passed in December of 2018 after I completed my undergraduate degree. The truth is, Twenty-Four Nineteen was once name N Time Videography and before it was a videography company it was a show on YouTube produced by high school juniors entitled White Noise. Almost 10 years ago, I completed my junior year of high school and started a club called White Noise for students who were interested in production. Read more>>

Amelia ORelly

I decided to start my own online organization focused on helping anyone navigating a breast cancer journey, be able to do so with excellence and grace. We want to serve as the breast cancer guide, by providing a single, helpful, safe-space for anyone going through a breast cancer journey. The idea to create this platform came from an intensely dark moment that turned into a very bright light. At the start of 2019, I was at a top-post as a Human Resources senior executive, and at just 47 years old, my corporate career still had many years ahead. That all began to change on May 10th, when I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Read more>>

Sharon Hudson

The basic idea of my services is to teach children and teenagers the tools they need to feel emotionally balanced, happy, and confident. This idea stems from my very unbalanced life as a teen. In the first year of high school, I lost a friend to suicide. This was the first time I felt deep sadness and I don’t remember having any tools to help me deal with this shocking experience. As my teen years went on I became more anxious and insecure. I was missing love and compassion for myself, but again, I didn’t have anyone to teach me the tools to help me with this low self-esteem. Years later, when I became a middle school teacher, I observed a lot of similar issues in my students. Read more>>

Zulmarie Gonzalez Rivera

After a short time chasing dreams and jobs, I was finally making my way back to Jacksonville. My whole life I’ve moved around quite a bit, and I knew this time would be different. I wanted to plant some roots in Jax, but with that came some fears. I was afraid I would become bored or stagnant. So initially, the idea for my business came from the desire to have a little “fun money”. I wanted to have extra income to travel and do things without giving my budget much thought. Read more>>

Kiswane/Jazmine Keys

In 2017, Jazmine was selling Paparazzi Jewelry. She talked about learning a lot about the business and how to build a brand. Initially, she started doing this to make extra money to offset some medical costs for her daughter and also wanting to be able to pay some debt from her first marriage. After learning and watching, Jazmine and I came together and wanted to build our own brand and “kreate” unique pieces that fit the personality of that person. We knew that there would be a lot of risk involved so we sold all of the Paparazzi Jewelry to start the business. We knew this would work because there were not a lot of people, or at least the circle of our friends and family who wanted to wear jewelry that looked the same. Read more>>

Minister Frankie

In my case, my ministry or business wasn’t an idea. It was a calling from Christ. When Jesus calls, you must answer. I have a very powerful testimony of how Jesus brought me out of the streets at a young age. He saved me from addiction, assault, rape, suicide, and so many other things that are too many to name. He called me back to the streets, out of a 6 figure income, to go to the darkest places across the nation to SHINE HIS LIGHT!! He called me to go to those who are still struggling. He chose me because who better to go tell them than someone who has been right where they are and can show them the way out of that hell. Read more>>

Ruth Addisu

I’ve always wanted to do a project visualizing the presence of God which is love according to 1 John 4:16 in the Bible. This desire was rooted from multiple encounters with Christ and feeling the love of God for myself. I wanted to get this message across in a unique yet accurate way. One evening I walked past a restaurant on H street in DC that had ASL (American Sign Language) printed on the side of its building. This form of sign language is used by over half a million people and most people I know, know little about it. Read more>>

Lacie Thorne

Our Story The fashion industry’s incentive model is broken. Brands only get paid once, even though the clothing asset may trade hands multiple times via third party platforms like Poshmark, Ebay, the RealReal, StockX and others. Because brands aren’t incorporated into the profit loop on these platforms, they are incentivized to create low quality- high turnover fast fashion items to keep customers returning to the traditional retail transaction point, because that is where they receive their profit. Read more>>

Tianna Boswell-Porter

I grew up with a passion for the arts, in a sense. I was pretty talented at a young age, ever since I could look at a simple sketch and duplicate it. My talent took me to an audition and acceptance at The High School of Fashion Industries as an art and design student. Yes, I was an art major in high school, whose focus was on art studies. Although I had the same curriculum as a typical high schooler, I had an additional focus and classes on art, design, and illustration. Read more>>

Damarys Crawford

I’ve always had a passion for plants since I was a little girl, but I never thought it would turn into a profession. I followed the traditional route most children of immigrants follow, which is to go to college although I hoped one day, I could pursue my passion. I was born on the exotic tropical island of Cuba, in Latin America. I grew up surrounded by nature and my mother’s garden that included many exotics and common plants she called “Malanguitas y Lengua de Vaca,” known in parts of the US commonly as Pothos and Snake Plant. Read more>>

Brianna Knight

Haus of III. VI. was my place of escape while briefly working for the government in 2017. I worked for the Department of Treasury and knew that my time there would be temporary as my creativity and artistic style did not compliment the work atmosphere. During the work week, I would find myself daydreaming of creating the perfect workplace. I aspired to create a place that was inviting, stimulating to all five senses and was home to beauty and fashion enthusiasts. Haus of III. VI. was a place that I visited in my dreams on a nightly basis for months. Each night was a new adventure – dreaming of how I would decorate the boutique, the clientele that would frequent, and the multiple cities the boutiques would be found in. Read more>>

Imani Smith

Before I even had the confidence to call myself a wardrobe stylist, I was always passionate about elevating the appearance and mood of whomever entrusted me to dress them. Whether I was being tasked with making a simple suggestion or creating an entire look, I always took it extremely seriously. The first time I watched someone see themselves in a new light I discovered that I had the power to alter their self-image. That was, without a doubt, the most unique version of euphoria that I had ever experienced, and I knew that I’d found my purpose. As much as I love and appreciate a beautifully designed garment or accessory, I took great pride in finding ways to instill confidence in my clients. Read more>>

Lore, Nicole, Andrea and Nadine Aka Four Food Freaks

We always loved food. Going out together and eat in different places was our thing to do in college. We were always taking pictures and sharing it with each other. One day one of us had the idea to start an Instagram account where we could share our favorite places in Tampa! At that time we couldn’t find as many accounts as exist today. We’ve been growing our community and meeting new foodies everywhere. The community is amazing as well as the new restaurants in the area. We are glad that we started our own blog! Read more>>

Shenia Faulks

I had started making natural hair t-shirts as a form of self-expression and protest. I had seen crazy stories in the news related to natural hair in the workplace and school settings . My t-shirts reflected positive affirmations and images surrounding black hair. I paired those shirts with earrings that also made a statement. People noticed and asked me where they could purchase the items. So the business was born. Read more>>

Sabrina Evans

Well, to be honest it was an easy choice for me. I got fired from my 9-5 , was unable to find another job, and after having a discussion with a friend, I started out on fiver. While working with my clients, they wanted to have a more personal work experience with me, so they asked if I had my own business, and the journey started from there. They helped me get a few things into place, taught me the art of running a freelance business through the resources thay had or could get their hands on, recommended my services to a few friends, and I was able to bring the idea to life. Read more>>

Start Planning

We’ve know each other for a few years and had been working on events/weddings for some time, got to learn from some amazing mentors and eventually decided to start our own company. We had the “know how” and we had to develop the contacts and network. It took us some time to come up with the name and concept, but nothing says wedding like “Start Planning” Read more>>

Kathy Newbern and J.S. Fletcher

Back in 1992, Kathy was invited to speak at a public relations conference in Raleigh, NC. We were living in Manteo, NC, at the time. Then-boyfriend Fletcher tagged along to keep her company. She was a participant on a panel, and the icebreaker question was: “What would people be surprised to find out about you?” She answered that she had written a yet-to-be published romance novel, which got an appropriate response of laughter. Afterward, at lunch, one of the attendees, a friend, said, “Wouldn’t it be great to read about yourself in one of those romance novels?” Well, everyone at the table perked up and started joking about it. Read more>>

Caroline Yares

Plant Based all started with an idea to make a few t shirts for myself, as a way to promote my new found love for plant based food and the vegan lifestyle. As a new vegetarian back in 2014 (thanks to a few documentaries: Forks over Knives & Cowspricy ) I became passionate about this new found passion and wanted to share it with friends and family. The t-shirts I made for myself and my husband were a thin font, with the words “PLNT BSD” on them. The thin font and lack of the full spelling of the word caused many to reach out and ask about what the phrase meant. This quickly opened the discussion about the choice to go plant based for my own personal reasons, and then my hope was to then inspire others to take their own action. :) Read more>>

Idaia Lane

I’’m all about body positivity and your loving yourself. I wasn’t always a big beautiful woman I was smaller at first and I had to learn to love my body. I just feel like besides being naked lingerie is the most intimate thing you can have with yourself. I know when I wear it I feel sexy and confident. I want everyone to love and embrace there bodies. So I help people with self love and self care through lingerie . I have lingerie from small to 5x Read more>>

Sekoya Burke

After several years of bartending, and being a trainer with several restaurants/bars/clubs, I believed I could create my own hands-on training facility, that was in an environment and atmosphere a lot less stressful than on the job training, easier to grasp the concepts/knowledge, and a FUN experience that covers ALL NEEDED CERTIFICATIONS to assist with day to day operations (i.e. ServSafe, TiPS), and for current & future business owners & staff! Read more>>

Shreco Bakari

First let me say this….I have been in development with my true story based drama series for 5 years. Yes, FIVE YEARS! I am super excited to finally bring this to life! We begin filming in Tampa and Clearwater Beach, Florida September 8-12, 2022! Talk about surreal! It’s finally all happening! Now, back to your question; I first came up with the idea for this drama series after watching the first season of Issa Rae’s “Insecure” series on HBO in the Summer/Fall of 2017 while living in Chattanooga, TN. Read more>>

Ashley Smith

I didn’t really plan on starting a label. I was actually working on podcasting and the music thing was something that fell into my lap. Only thing was things started taking off really fast so I was in it and podcasting eventually took a back seat! I started promoting shows to promote an artist I was working with at the time and that left me scrambling to come up with a company name, but I still wasn’t sure what direction I was going in. I was wearing multiple hats and financing projects to the point I was really operating as a label I just didn’t see it that way. I was just doing what needed to be done. Read more>>

Sharhonda Smith

While attending an online business school in the spring of 2019, I developed an initial business idea to provide a local resource for families to purchase gymnastics essentials from one centralized location. As a mother of two competitive gymnasts of seven years at the time, I understood firsthand the demand of the sport and the challenges it presented when searching tirelessly for specialty apparel and accessories. Read more>>

Josephine Pace

I’ve traveled to New Orleans many times over the years. I fell in love with the food, The French Quarters, the people and the overall culture. A culture and experience that forever will stay in my heart. While on my many ventures there, I was invited to try a pecan praline. Now, I’ve heard of them, but never tasted a true NOLA pecan praline. Let me just say that it was a taste like no other. I was in love once again! I’d come back home to the Midwest, and all of a sudden, I’d get a craving for that delectable, melt in your mouth taste. Read more>>

Takisha Bromell

When I was first venturing out to start a business, my intention was to solely partner with real estate agents. I knew I needed some guidance to get the ball rolling, so I reached out to various friends and colleagues that were also business owners. Many were very successful and ran million-dollar companies, so leaning into them for wisdom and advice was high on my to-do list! As I walked in to meet with each individual, I expected to hear that my idea was not profitable but, to my amazement, each person not only encouraged me but gave me great advice on how to move forward! As I left each office, I felt as if I were collecting pieces of a puzzle and the big picture was all coming together! Read more>>

Stephanie Costa

When the pandemic first hit my full time job became very uncertain. I think it took that fear to really push me to take a chance on something new, and something that I’ve always daydreamed about doing. I guess I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose during this time. I’ve always loved fashion and felt like it was something I could never get involved in, since that wasn’t my area of study in school, nor did I have any experience in the field. One day I came across a story about Alison J. Prince and was so inspired by her. Read more>>

JNC Branding

Before starting JNC, we each had our own individual businesses doing much of the same work we’re doing now, but we noticed that there wasn’t an agency in the Houston area that focused on creative branding. We wanted to create a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs and businesses to come to and have their entire branding story created with one team. Too often we received feedback that their branding logo was being done by one person, photography another, as well as their website. But no one was talking to each other about the vision behind the brand making sure every piece was cohesive and aligned when it all came together. So we decided to come together and create a place where that could happen! Read more>>

Aden Little

I like video games so I asked my dad to buy me a video game. He said sure but I’d have to earn it. So I told my mom and she suggested I come up with a business to make some money. I thought about it all night and I figured I would sell Lemonade since I liked lemonade. I was 6 when I sold my first lemonade, I’m now 11. Read more>>

Christine Lacayo

I really didn’t come up with it. My best friend and business partner, Suzie, did. I had been working in the communications field with other environmental organizations for the past 7 years helping to grow their community and brand awareness through social media, blogging, impact partnerships, and email marketing. My goal since graduating with a Master’s in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development was to find a dream ocean conservation organization I could do this for but well-paid ocean work is hard to come by, especially for a woman of color. Read more>>

Madeline Rochelle

As a wife, mom and working woman, the pandemic brought about some inherent challenges. I left my job as a public school educator, before my daughter was born, in order to focus attention on her and our family. As our daughter grew, and the pandemic began, my husband and I tried to figure out how to enrich our daughter’s life with social and emotional opportunities, while still having to isolate from people around us. Suddenly, we couldn’t see family or friends, and we wondered how we would provide this important cornerstone of learning and growth for our daughter. I had the opportunity to work with a local Austin family, in a small nature pod (small class), which gave me the opportunity to step into the role of “teacher” again. Read more>>

Lance Ingram

I’ve been fortunate to attend more than 800 concerts in my life, with most of those coming in the last 15 years. When people learn this about me they have so many questions. “What’s your favorite show?” “Who have you seen the most?” “Whos the loudest band?” and so on. I’ve always enjoyed telling stories about the shows I’ve seen. It’s one of the most fun things as a music fan to talk with other music fanatics about who we’ve seen. I really think my favorite thing is hearing old stories of seeing bands like the Beatles and Stones in their prime. Read more>>

Kari Workman

Just as most great ideas do, my journey to start my business has been an evolution! I did not start out to create a business. It evolved because I wanted to offer a free service. As the 2021 school year came to a close, there was a great deal of conversation about students and learning loss due to the pandemic. Parents were expressing concern that their children were “falling behind.” As a certified teacher, I knew I had skills that could be helpful. So, I created a Facebook group to share fun learning ideas for parents to do with their kids over the summer. And if they needed help with other school-related subjects, I could help with that too! People seemed to enjoy my perspective and my ideas but the intention was to be a free service to families, not a business. Read more>>

Naseer Alam

From a very young age I was exposed to the business world. My father, who owned and operated a leather factory in India, was a big part of my inspiration to open my own business. Noticing a strategic opening in the market, by knowledge gained from the family business, I stepped into the industry myself and gained a foothold large enough to have a stable position in the market. Soon afterwards, I was a husband and father of three and knew I had to kick my business into overdrive. I saw the potential and took the necessary steps in order to expand my business into the United States and move my family here with me as well. While I knew I would miss my friends and extended family back home, I realized this would be a great opportunity to keep growing in other places while maintaining my roots where it all began. Read more>>

Ebony Renee

How I came up with the name of my business is after every client I would stand back and be like “girl you are snatched.” So I came up with SnatchedbyEbonyRenee. One thing for me that keeps me going in the makeup industry is the smiles I put on my girls faces. We really build rapport with one another. I make sure to create a safe and peaceful space for them so whether they want to relax or chit chat. We all know the vibes lol. Read more>>